Prices in the EU and on the global stage have stayed relatively high for most commodities through the seasonal increase in EU and US production.

Now the Northern hemisphere is moving into a seasonal period of lower production, although output is higher than in the same period last year and the high season in Oceania is kicking off under favourable conditions.

For the quota year 2009/2010, official reports from member states now confirm the provisional estimate of a 7 per cent under-use of quota for the EU-27.

The production situation has not had any major impact on market prices. The EU report said: “Markets and prices are mostly steady to slightly higher. The market tone appears stable.”

Intervention stocks

The EU began to release intervention stocks of butter and skimmed milk powder (SMP) at the end of May last year. For butter almost all stocks (except for some 1500 t) have been sold and SMP sales have only just got underway.

The quarterly report said no negative impact has been reported from the release of the intervention stocks.

Below is a graph that gives an indication of the raw milk prices for the EU-27, comparing the situation for July 2010 with that of July 2009. Prices in Euros per 100kg are given on the y axis and the EU countries on the x axis.